14ymedio, Havana, 5 February 2024 — With milk at 20 pesos, “I have to sell 4.5 gallons to make a dollar,” and the transport to take it to the destination costs the equivalent of 6.6 gallons, says rancher José A. Casimiro, owner of the Finca del Medio, in Siguaney (Sancti Spíritus), where he practices agroecology and permaculture. In a brief interview on Facebook, he describes the desperate situation of Cuban farmers in the face of the siege of the bureaucracy and the lack of decision by the authorities.
The prices of milk and cattle are almost humiliating for the small farmer, he adds. “Where in the world do you find milk with that value? In addition to the cost of transport, to take it to the State collection centers, which is 500 pesos. That means that just to cover the cost of transporting milk you have to sell almost seven gallons.”
Casimiro explains that there is no way to make a profit, either by selling the animal or by selling the milk. The State buys a bull of 1,000 pounds, after the animal has been fattened for two or three years, with all the expenses (transport, health, taxes and travel to do paperwork) and implications for its commercialization, for less than what a 47-pound piglet costs. The farmer ends up receiving the equivalent of 47 dollars for such an animal, at 14 pesos per pound. “Where is the profitability?” he asks.
The ranchers continue to be threatened by excessive controls, low prices and the obligation to sell a good part of their productions to the State
The rancher says that he has been in the sa